Wings of Change
by serenityxdragon
Summary: Hiccup, Astrid, Toothless and Stormfly find a girl in a cave. It explains some of the things said in the second movie, and sort of leads up to it.
1. Surprise, Surprise!

**This is my first Hiccup/Astrid fanfic, so I hope you like it :) I've found that there aren't enough good stories about this couple that don't involve... ahem... you know. So it's just a (hopefully) cute story with them being a couple and explaining the events that led up to HTTYD 2. Enjoy!**

Toothless bounded up to Hiccup, pushing him over. Hiccup laughed, rubbing Toothless' face and his own aching ribs. "Hey, bud," Hiccup said gently. "I missed you too." Toothless smiled awkwardly, showing his pink gums, then nudged Hiccup excitedly. "Ohh, you smell my fish, don't you bud? That isn't for you!" Toothless flicked his ear at Hiccup, rolling his eyes. Hiccup sighed and took a large slimy fish out of his coat.

Toothless devoured it in several large gulps, like some massive cat. "There isn't any more!" Hiccup said, chuckling as Toothless nudged him all over, sniffing. Toothless snorted and sat down, staring at him reproachfully. "Come on, bud. Time to go see the world!" Toothless rose to his feet, flicking his tail.

Hiccup hooked his metal foot into the stirrup, swung his other leg up and over and braced himself. Toothless leaped forward, once, then again, and suddenly he launched them into the air. Hiccup had done this a million times before, but it never got old. Hiccup scanned the air, then the sea. "If you really want more fish, there's a swarm of them down there," he pointed out. Too late, he added, "Don't go under-" the rest of his sentence came out as a large air bubble. Toothless broke the surface with several wriggling fish in his mouth, then swallowed them.

Hiccup sighed, taking off his coat and wringing it out. "You're too generous, Toothless," Hiccup said as Toothless regurgitated a few fish heads for him. "Really." He brushed them into the ocean and Toothless groaned disapprovingly.

"Come on, Toothless. Astrid and Stormfly are probably already waiting for us. And no more fish!" Toothless smacked his lips, then launched himself back into the sky. Sure enough, when they got close to their rendezvous point, Stormfly and Astrid were already circling above. "C'mon, bud!" Hiccup cried. Toothless beat harder with his powerful wings and they covered the distance in no time.

When they reached Astrid and Stormfly, the two dragons angled towards the ground and landed gracefully next to each other.

"Astrid," Hiccup said with a large grin.

"Hiccup," Astrid said with a small, reserved smile. For a moment they looked awkwardly at each other.

"Come here, you," Hiccup said, pulling her close.

Toothless rolled his eyes. He thrust himself between them, growling. "Toothless!" Hiccup said, a little angry with his dragon. Toothless looked at Hiccup with large eyes, lowering his head submissively, then jumped to his feet, twirling first to the right and then to the left. He swished his tail and turned away from them, looking back as if to say "follow me!"

Astrid and Hiccup looked at each other. The two humans followed their two dragons. Ever so often Toothless would look back at them to check that they were following, then purr ever so slightly and turn his head back. Stormfly eventually joined him, seemingly knowing where Toothless was headed.

"Where is he taking us?" Astrid finally blurted.

"How should I know?" Hiccup said, raising his hands up in a shrug.

"He's your dragon!" Astrid snapped angrily, then covered her mouth apologetically.

"Stormfly is leading as much as Toothless is, and I'm going to guess that you still have no idea where we're going," Hiccup said.

Astrid sighed. "I'm sorry. We've just been walking for a long time, and I'm getting a bit tired. I shouldn't expect you to know where we're-"

Hiccup laughed and scooped her up in his arms. "Well, why didn't you say so?" he said playfully. Toothless flicked his ear at them, as if to say, "I know what you're doing back there."

Astrid gave an over-exaggerated sigh. "You just love the fact that you're bigger than me," she said. "I'm still the better fighter, you know. I could make you drop me if I wanted to."

"Oh but you don't, do you?" Hiccup said. She smirked and shifted her head in his arms. Rather suddenly, Toothless rose onto his hind legs. "I think... we're here," he said, letting Astrid slide from his arm. She stood back up, using him as a crutch. They were looking into the opening of a massive cave.

Toothless grunted and waddled over to a much smaller cave near it. "It's too small for you, bud," he said as Toothless, in vain, tried to stuff himself through. "Come on, I'm going."

"I'm coming with you," Astrid said. Hiccup crawled through the narrow entrance of the cave until it widened out into a cavern. "Oh," she said with surprise.

A small girl was huddled against the far side of the cave. "We're not going to hurt you," Hiccup said. "We're friendly. I promise." He reached out his hand, and the girl shrank back timidly, her face coming out of the shadows. Now that he could see her more clearly, he could tell that she was older than he had originally thought, in her mid to late teens. He estimated about sixteen.

"Come on," Astrid said. "It's okay. I'll protect you." The girl shook her head. "Was it the dragons? Did they scare you?" The girl paused, then shook her head slowly. "Can you talk? Are you alright?" The girl shook her head no, then nodded yes.

"Hiccup, what do we do? She can't exactly tell us what her name is, or where she came from. Or why she's so scared!"

"Do you have a name?" Hiccup asked the girl. She paused, then shook her head. "Do you mind if we call you... Rain?" she shook her head no again.

"Really? As great a dragon rider as you, and you come up with Rain?" Astrid said teasingly.

"Hey, I tried," Hiccup said seriously. Astrid punched him gently in the arm to let him know she was teasing. "Are you going to come with us?" Rain nodded and walked over to them on wobbly legs. "There are dragons out there. But don't worry! They're friendly." Rain nodded again. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but instead a growly chuckle came out.

"What in Thor's name-" Hiccup said as a small dragon crawled out of a side cave, answering her strange call.

"Can she speak dragon?" Astrid said. "How did she even understand us?"

"I have no idea!" Hiccup said frantically. "We need to tell Stoick. Or someone! Rain, are you coming?" Rain, who Hiccup could judge very accurately to be a small sixteen year old, stood, carrying her dragon, which was essentially a baby stormfly. The nadder was identical in every way except for a patch of creamy white covering part of its face. Rain gave Hiccup a thumbs up and led the way out of the cave, looking back at her every few minutes.

Hiccup had to pause to blink the sun out of eyes, but immediately he felt a sharp jab in his side. "Ow! What was that for?" Hiccup said, rubbing his aching ribs.

"Look! Look at that!" Astrid said, pointing at Toothless.

"I- see! I don't know if I believe it, though!" Hiccup said, blinking more. Rain was stroking Toothless and talking to him in a strange language of grunts, groans, purrs and chirps. Toothless was taken aback for several moments, then leaped into the conversation with a variety of sounds, some that Hiccup had never heard before.

"Come on!" Astrid said, jumping on Stormfly. "We have to get back and tell Stoick- forget the map!"

"Come on, Rain!" Hiccup said, helping her onto Toothless. When they landed, their gang immediately surrounded them.

"Did you find any new islands?" Fishlegs said excitedly.

"Did you make some vikings run in terror?" Snotlout said, rubbing Hookfang's cheek.

"Were there any explosions?" the twins said at the exact same time, with matching wolfish grins. Hiccup looked at Astrid for support.

"No, no and no. We didn't even lift off the island. Where's Stoick?" Astrid said, coming to Hiccup's rescue.

"In the dragon caves, working on the stables, I think. Why?" Fishlegs said nervously. Hiccup was already leading Toothless towards the caves.

"We'll... we'll explain later," Hiccup said hurriedly, running to catch up with Astrid.

"Hey, who's that girl?" Ruffnut asked Tuffnut, squinting to make them out.

"That's Astrid. We know Astrid," Tuffnut said. "Duh. Did you lose your brain somewhere?"

"No, I mean the girl on Toothless' back," Ruffnut said, rolling her eyes and punching Tuffnut's arm, hard. "What, didn't you see her?"

"Oh hey. Do you think they know? HEY! HEY HICCUP THERE'S A LADY ON YOUR DRAGON'S BACK! Oh no! He didn't hear me. HEY-"

Ruffnut clamped her hand over his mouth. "Don't tell him, you idiot!" Ruffnut said sternly. "Maybe she's a ninja. Think of all the _destruction _she could cause..."


	2. Rain causes something

"Dad?" Hiccup called, glancing around the large cave. "Dad?" the cave was mostly empty, but Stoick was in the process of building the stables for the dragons.

"Stoick!" Astrid shouted, Stormfly hopping ahead of her to investigate the stables.

"Yes?" Stoick ducked under a low part in the cave. "Ah! Hiccup! How are you doing?"

"Dad," Hiccup said seriously, and a bit nervously. "I want you to meet... Rain." Rain glanced up for a moment and waved at Stoick, then went back to her conversation with Toothless.

"What? What happened to Astrid?" Stoick said, confused. His graying beard swayed from side to side. Hiccup winced at his assumption.

"Excuse me, I'm right here! And it's not like that!" Astrid said defiantly, stepping closer to Hiccup. Hiccup put his arm around her waist.

"Dad, Rain here can... talk to dragons." For a second there was silence, then Stoick laughed. "Dad?" Hiccup said. He had expected Stoick to think he was joking or take him completely serious, but not think it was funny.

"Nice one, Hiccup. Have fun with your new friend. I have to keep working, alright? I'll see you later." He ruffled Hiccup's hair and turned to go back into the cave.

"No, I'm serious," Hiccup said, flattening his messed up hair as Astrid tried to hide her smile. "Rain, please show him." Stoick turned back to look as Rain slid from Toothless' back. Rain grunted to Toothless, and Toothless in turn looked at Stoick. He grunted at Stoick. When Stoick looked at Toothless for several moments, Toothless smiled and jumped over to him, rocks skittering on the floor.

Toothless panted, rubbing against Stoick. "Hiccup," Stoick said, trying to shove the over-enthusiastic dragon away, "Where did you find her?"

"On the... rendezvous island. In a cave," Hiccup explained awkwardly.

"She was alone. She had a Nadder with her," Astrid continued. "She can't talk like... like we can. I don't even know how she can understand us, or how well. Chief- what are we going to do?"

"Give her a room, of course! It's not every day we meet someone who can talk to dragons. Let's be hospitable!" Stoick walked back to what he was doing, humming to himself.

Hiccup turned to Astrid. "And he's not even going to ask how she can speak to dragons. Great."

"Hey, this was your plan," Astrid said, frustrated. "Let's just hope..." she glanced back at Rain, who seemed to have known they were talking about her and was staring at them.

"That Rain isn't some murderous outcast from another tribe? Awesome plan, Astrid," Hiccup whispered angrily. "Why did we even bring her back? In hindsight, she was obviously fine where she was!"

"You were the one who came up with the plan, you were the one who wasn't thinking, Hiccup!" I don't even- let's- not talk about this here, alright? Thank you." Astrid spun around, mounted Stormfly, who had come back by now, and flew out of the cave.

"Oh, GREAT job, Hiccup!" he muttered to himself. "Way to go. Come on Rain. I guess you'll need a room. You can stay in the great hall in one of the spare rooms." Rain stroked Toothless under the chin and Toothless purred. "Oh, you like her more than me now, huh? Thanks a lot, bud," Hiccup said sarcastically. In all honestly he felt a little betrayed, first by Astrid and now by Toothless.

Rain followed him meekly as he led the way into the great hall. "You can sleep..." Hiccup pointed to a small cot, "over there. You can set yourself up with your dragon. I have to go, please stay out of trouble, okay?" Rain nodded firmly.

Hiccup went outside to where Toothless had set himself up by the door. The dragon nudged Hiccup as he went past. "I don't have any fish, Toothless," Hiccup said angrily. Toothless purred and rubbed against Hiccup again. "I guess it isn't fish you want, huh?" Hiccup scratched under the chin, causing Toothless to pump his wings and fall to the ground, wriggling with pleasure. " I have to go see Astrid. Do you want to come?" Hiccup began to move forward and Toothless followed him energetically, knocking over a bucket of water that had been by the door.

After looking in Astrid's house and her usual hang-out spots, Hiccup spotted Fishlegs. "Fishlegs!" Hiccup said with relief. "Have you seen Astrid?"

"She flew that way," Fishlegs said, pointing. "What happened with you two? She seemed really upset."

"I- don't know," Hiccup said with a sight. "Thanks." He hooked his prosthetic into Toothless' stirrup, and he had only seconds to become comfortable before Toothless was back in the air. "Do you think they were headed for that cave we found Rain in?" Toothless snorted and flicked Hiccup with his ear. Hiccup rubbed behind his friend's ears. Toothless dipped in midair for a second before he got a hold of himself. "Of course she was. Looking for answers..."

Hiccup dismounted in front of the large cave. Immediately Toothless recoiled, snarling. "Toothless?" Toothless growled, stalking forward, low to the ground. Hiccup flattened himself against the cliff wall. Suddenly fire came out of the shadows toward them! Toothless jumped back, covering Hiccup with his fireproof wings. Then he jumped forward, snarling, and blasted at the dragon in the shadows. The dragon seemed to spontaneously burst into flames, much, much bigger than any of the dragons he was used to dealing with.

"An enormous monstrous nightmare," Hiccup said. "Great." Toothless blasted at it again, and again. "Toothless, no! Get back!" Toothless hesitated for a moment, and Hiccup flung himself onto Toothless' back. "Come on, bud!"

He was already in the air when he heard her. "Hiccup? Hiccup!"

"Astrid!" Toothless circled above the monstrous nightmare, who seemed unwilling to follow them into the air. Hiccup nudged Toothless forward, then down, so that he was nearly directly above the large, aggressive dragon. "Can you distract him, bud?" Toothless hovered, backwinging for a few seconds and blasting the bigger dragon with blue fire.

Toothless roared ferociously as Hiccup jumped down onto the rocks several feet below. He scaled the side of the cliff until he reached the small tunnel. "Astrid!" he called, scuttling through the small tunnel. "Astrid!"

"Hiccup, thank god! Did you see Stormfly?" Astrid lay in the cave, cradling her arm, her axe on the ground on her side.

"No, but we have to go, Toothless is out there! We don't have much time. I'm sure Stormfly got away," Hiccup reassured her.

Astrid grabbed her axe, wincing in pain. "Hiccup," Astrid said quietly. "I don't think I can crawl out of here. It was painful enough crawling in here with this wound on my arm."

"Tough luck, because I'm not leaving you behind. I'll go first, you follow," Hiccup said. "You had better be following me when I get out." he began to crawl out of the tunnel, reassured by the scraping sounds he heard behind him.

"Toothless!" Hiccup called. His dragon jumped down from the cliff, allowing Hiccup to pick up Astrid and carry her onto his back before he took off. "Astrid! Are you okay?" he took her axe and put it away.

"What do you think?" she snapped. He rolled up her sleeve and winced in sympathy. There was a long gash from her elbow to her wrist that was bleeding heavily. Small burns surrounded it.

"We have to get you back," Hiccup said, trying to stop the bleeding with his hand. She cried out. "Toothless, can you go any faster?" Toothless pumped his wings harder, hearing Hiccup's urgency/ Berk came into view, then zoomed in. Toothless landed quickly in front of their house, hopping to break his fall. Hiccup picked up the now only half-conscious Astrid and carried her in to his house. He grabbed some cloth and bound them around her gash tightly. The bleeding slowed a little, and he picked her up again and carried her onto his bed.

"Toothless, can you get Stoick?" Hiccup asked.

"No need, I'm here," Stoick said shuffling in. "I saw your hurried landing." Toothless herded him closer and he spotted Astrid's prone figure. "Is she alright?"

"I... don't know," Hiccup admitted, sitting on the bed beside her. "I don't know how bad it is. Astrid, can you hear me?" He added more layers of bandages on her arm, on top of the ones that had began to bleed through.

"Yeah," she said weakly. "Stormfly? Is Stormfly here?"

"No. I could go look for her...?" he asked, propping up her head on pillows.

"I'll go look. You need to stay with her, Hiccup," Stoick said. "Gothi should be here soon to take a look at her. I'll see you when I've found Stormfly."

Hiccup sighed and put his head in his hands. Astrid tugged at his arm gently and he looked at her. "The nightmare. We have to tell Stoick about it."

Hiccup nodded, holding her hand gently. "I'll tell him as soon as he gets back We have to warn people not to go near there. I don't know if it would have attacked us if Toothless hadn't shot first, but..." Hiccup shook his head. Toothless usually knew when a dragon was hostile or not.

"Would there be any way to tame it?" Astrid said quietly.

"I don't know of a way. I did attack it. Dragons don't exactly take kindly to being attacked," Hiccup said. Toothless nudged Hiccup gently, then pointed his nose to the door. Several seconds after, Gobber and Gothi walked in the door.

"Gobber?" Hiccup asked, confused. Gothi walked to Astrid and began to examine her.

"Hey there, Hiccup! Alright, do you want the good news, the bads news, or the other good news?"

"Uhh, he good news," Hiccup said.

"Alright, Astrid, we found your dragon."

"What's the bad news?" Astrid would have jumped to her feet if Gothi hadn't held her down with her cane.

"Ah, don't worry about that. Completely unrelated! The twins sort of... gassed up a couple of houses, and if there's a single spark half of Berk could be destroyed!" Hiccup exchanged looks with Astrid.

"Go," she said. "I'll be fine."

"Wait! You didn't hear the other good news!" Gobber said as Hiccup turned to leave.

"And what would that be?" Hiccup said with a sigh, his hand resting on the door knob.

Gobber held out a contraption that Hiccup had once designed. "You get to try out your gas-inator!" Hiccup grabbed it, jumped on Toothless and flew out the window, trying to ignore Astrid saying 'gas-inator and laughing.


	3. Someone's a bit gassy

**Don't get too used to the really frequent updates. I already have a lot of the story written down, but eventually I'll catch up to myself. There should be one tomorrow, but after that I can't be certain.**

It was obvious from the air where the gas was. Huge clouds of billowing green gas surrounded several large houses. Hiccup landed on the edge of the cloud and examined his old device. He pressed the largest button, which was of course painted bright red, and it sucked in the gas nearest to it. After a little while, it lost suction. "Full," he muttered. Toothless knelt down for Hiccup to jump up on him back, and they headed back to Gobber's forge.

It didn't take too long to hammer out the crude shape of one of the parts, the gas cartridge. He replaced it, made several extras, and headed back to the gas leak. He had only gotten rid of half of the gas by the time Stoick made his way to him. "Whatever that's supposed to be, it's working," Stoick noticed. "You need any help?"

"I'll need more of these soon," Hiccup said, handing a full container of gas to his father as an example. "It's full, so don't open it. Can you ask Gobber to make some more?" Several men with buckets dashed through the cloud with buckets of water, making sure all the houses were wet so as to avoid complete disaster if there was a spark.

"I'm on it. Please try and hurry," Stoick said, running back to where he came from. At that moment, his device became full again. He fished in one of his large pockets for an empty cartridge, but there wasn't one, so he headed back to Gobber's forge.

"Easiest thing I've made all day!" Gobber said, handing Hiccup a few more. "I'll keep them coming."

It seemed like a very long time before Hiccup finished. The twins, without their dragon, as they had been temporarily grounded, and Fishlegs were there to pat him on the back. "What are you goin to do with all that gas?" Fishlegs asked.

"I'll figure something out," Hiccup said. "Hold on... where's Snotlout?"

"No idea," Ruffnut said with a grin. "No idea."

"Ruffnut, what did you do?" Hiccup said with an exasperated sigh.

"She buried Snotlout! Oh, it was awesome! You should have seen his face. All that gas was just a diversion for the real action, going on down there," Tuffnut said, pointing stoically.

"Great job. Where'd you bury him?" Hiccup said, following Tuffnut's finger.

Tuffnut snatched his finger back. 'I bet you can't fine him!" Tuffnut said, his helmet askew.

Hiccup growled under his breath. Toothless nudged him, then led the way down the slope towards a clearing. Toothless began to dig with his large paws, spraying dirt behind him. Finally Snotlout burst up from the dirt, gasping for breath, his eyes wild. He had covered his face with his shirt to avoid suffocating.

"You okay?" Hiccup said, helping him to his feet. He thought it odd that Snotlout would even accept help from anyone.

"What did I do wrong?" Snotlout wailed, clutching at Hiccup's good foot. "It was a confession! Oh, I confessed! She... she didn't agree..."

"What are you saying?" Hiccup said, shaking his boot and attempting to hop backwards on his prosthetic leg. He ended up on the ground.

"A confession of love," Snotlout said. "Oh, I can't take it anymore!"

Hiccup groaned, lying on his back. He kicked Snotlout's arm gently with his metal foot, causing him to let go. "I never thought I'd hear you say that. Come on."

_Later..._

"So Snotlout was buried alive, hm?" Gobber said. "Must be insanity due to lack of oxygen. Nothing else can explain it."

Hiccup looked a Gobber, then at Snotlout very closely. "I didn't think Snotlout could have a thing for Ruffnut, but hey, their personalities match! Destructive and a bit egotistical..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Snotlout complained, not knowing what egotistical meant but knowing it wasn't a shining personality trait.

Hiccup ignored him. "Snotlout, she buried you alive. Forget her!" Hiccup said.

"How can I forget my princess?" Snotlout begged.

Hiccup looked at him for a few moments, slightly creeped out. "Just- stay away from Ruffnut!" Hiccup then added under his breath, "I really don't want to have to wipe your blood off the floor." Ruffnut could be _scary._

"What was that?" Snotlout said suspiciously.

"Nothing!" Hiccup said, laughing nervously. Snotlout growled and walked out. "What is going on with him," he said, picking up the gas-inator (as Gobber had affectionately called it) and twirling it in his fingers. "And what am I going to do with all this gas?"

"Let it all out, Hiccup!" Gobber said, shaking his hook. "Better out than in! That's my policy. Always works, too!" he hummed happily, polishing his hook with his shirt.

"I don't really want to think about what you just said," Hiccup said, shuddering. "And I don't think we should unleash all this zippleback gas on the world." he gestured to the large piles of cartridges.

"You'll think of something, Hiccup! You always do," Gobber said affectionately, ruffling Hiccup's hair with his shining hook.

"Ow," Hiccup muttered, rubbing his head and flattening his hair, again. He grabbed his sketchbook from a convenient pocket and began to sketch a design. He became lost in thought very quickly, so Gobber sneaked away as sneakily as he could with a wooden foot.

After a while, Toothless came over from outside and rested his head on Hiccup's shoulder. "Hey bud," Hiccup said, scratching Toothless' head where he liked it. Toothless purred, rubbing against Hiccup's shoulder in bliss.

"It would just need a spark," Hiccup mused, Toothless' head resting on his lap. He drew in a few more circles and squiggly lines to the drawing and Toothless, watching uninterestedly, nudged Hiccup's side for more scratching. Hiccup obliges, absentmindedly flipping to the next page in the journal and making a much neater sketch.

"What do you think, bud?" Hiccup said finally, showing him the finished drawing. Toothless yawned. "You're right. I'll start on it tomorrow." then he looked outside and saw that it was pitch black. "Whoa! Sorry, bud!"

He hurried home, leaving his sketched in the smithie. Stoick, up late, told him that Gothi had 'said' not to move Astrid. When he reached the upstairs of his house, and his bedroom, Toothless went to his bed at the foot of Hiccup's bed, and Hiccup stood there awkwardly. "That's alright," he said, looking at Astrid curled up in his bed. "You shouldn't be moved. I'll just... sleep with Toothless."

"Nonsense," Astrid mumbled, grabbing his wrist gently but firmly and pulling him closer.

"I can't argue with that," Hiccup said, crawling into bed behind her. She shifted, letting him put his arm around her, and they slept like that until daybreak.


	4. Picnic Lunch

**Hi! I'm so sorry about the really really long wait. Here, have a really really long chapter to make up for it!**

Hiccup woke to a terrible screeching sound. He cracked open his eyes to see Astrid on the edge of the bed, leaning over to try and calm down Stormfly. "Honestly! I'm okay!" she said, holding out her hand. Hiccup groaned and fell out of bed, and finally Toothless woke up, cheerily head-butting Hiccup in the stomach.

"Oh, you got me, bud," Hiccup said sleepily. "Stop now." He was in a much better mood now that Stormfly had stopped screeching. "Toothless! Stop!" Toothless withdrew his head, rumbling anxiously. "That's alright. Come on."

"Astrid, I had an idea how to use the gas, so I'm going to the forge to create it," Hiccup said. "Wish me luck so I don't blow something up."

"Good luck, babe," Astrid said, rubbing Stormfly some more.

Hiccup smiled a little, seeing her lean forward, her hair and clothes rumpled. He knew that he was certainly very lucky that she loved him. "Come on, bud," Hiccup whispered, leading Toothless outside. Hiccup didn't want to force Toothless to fly so early in the morning, so they walked amiably along to the smith.

When he reached the workshop, he headed past Gobber without a word. He grabbed some scrap metal from a bin and began to heat and then pound it, bending it into a cylinder just big enough to accommodate one of the gas cartridges and a bit more. He made a lid that opened and a way to let the gas out, triggered by a button. It worked- but spread gas all over the workshop.

"Hiccup!" An angry Gobber said, using the gas-inator to clear the air. "Test your devices OUTSIDE, would you?"

Hiccup hastily apologized, moving outside, and started to add the spark he knew this device would need. This, fortunately, he tested outside. Astrid found him just as the third explosion leaked out of the device. He sighed and rested his head in his hands.

"Not working, huh?" she said. "You'll find a way. You're the best inventor on Berk! You made the saddle for Toothless, right? And his tail. You can do this." Toothless purred in agreement, licking Hiccup until he fell over.

"I really hope that washes out," Hiccup said, shaking his hands with disgust while Astrid laughed.

He took off his slimy leather apron and discarded it in a heap of slobbery mess. "Hmm. Maybe is I make... that, and... little... tiny holes..." he set it up and tried it out, then sighed. "I forgot the little tiny holes." little tubes inside the device popped open and leaked gas. Luckily Gobber had placed the gas-inator nearby.

He retried and finally, finally it worked! A sharp blade popped out of the handle, tiny holes spouted gas and a spark set it on fire. He pumped his fists in the air, laughing, as Toothless and Astrid looked at each other, bemused. He was holding what appeared to be a flaming sword. Then the other end burst and spread gas along the ground, and the spark set it on fire. Hiccup threw his hands up. "I just- what does this have against me?"

Toothless looked at Hiccup completely confused. He sniffed at the scorch mark on the floor. "It's called technology, bud," he said. Toothless grunted, turned his back on Hiccup. "Are you scared of a little flame, baby?" Hiccup teased, replacing the cartridge of his device and fiddling with the bottom of it.

Toothless did a mocking imitation of Hiccup's tone, then knocked him over, keeping him down with one heavy paw. "Please don't lick me," Hiccup said, "That was gross enough the first time." Toothless batted at Hiccup's shoulder. "Okay, let me up now."

Toothless sat on him. "Astrid! A little help here?"

"I'm just enjoying the show," she said, smirking. She took the exploding sword from where it lay beside them, so it wouldn't accidentally get broken.

Toothless sniffed at Hiccup's chin, then licked it. Hiccup struggled to get away. Finally Toothless let him up, laughing. "Oh, that's just gross," Hiccup said, wiping at his chin. He looked around, then asked Astrid, "Do you have the sword?"

"Oh, you want it?" Astrid said with a cheeky smile. "You had better come and get it!"

"Astrid-" Hiccup protested as she jumped on Stormfly and did circles above him. "Let's get her, bud!" He jumped on Toothless (which was a nice change from Toothless on _him_), who grinned and streaked through the sky towards them. She angled away to the left, and he followed. They did barrel rolls around columns of rock and small islands, humans completely in sync with their dragons.

They looped around, at first chasing each other, then just for the joy of the flight. They landed on top of one rock column, staring out over the sea. Most of the day had already passed. "So," Astrid said, walking toward him. "How much have you eaten today?"

"Um."

"Hiccup! You can't just forget to eat!" Astrid said, shoving him gently.

"Well apparently I can, because hey look! I did," Hiccup said, gesturing widely with his arms. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Come on, you. I brought some food. You're too predictable." Astrid took a basket out of one of Stormfly's saddlebags and opened it, pulling out food. Toothless sniffed at a few raw fish and dragged them closer to him.

"Oh, I'm predictable now?" Hiccup grinned. "Well did you predict that I was going to do- this?" Astrid prepared for something weird to happen. Nothing happened. "Apparently not."

"You did... nothing." Astrid was startled into laughing. "Nope, you win. You're pretty unpredictable.

Hiccup smiled and took some food from Astrid. The two shared a lunch in mostly silence, admiring the view. Eventually a few small Terrors stopped by for a bite to eat. Hiccup patted Toothless. "It's alright, bud. Just pretend they're guests."

Toothless rolled his eyes and grunted, gulping down his last fish as quickly as he could, then hiccuped. "Are you... making fun of me?" Hiccup said, incredulous. Toothless swayed from side to side, then hiccuped again, sending a small burst of flame at the ground. "Oh, no," Hiccup groaned. "Bud, stay over there so you don't burn anything." He shooed away the terrible terrors, who snapped at his hand and flapped off.

Toothless turned around sadly and stared off into the distance. Hiccup comforted him quietly, quickly finishing his food. "Don't feel bad, bud. I've gotten the hiccups plenty of times.

Astrid failed to hide her smile. "Oh, Hiccup has gotten the hiccups? No way!"

"Oh, would you just- I've gotten that a million times! That wasn't even original!" Hiccup complained. He looked over at Toothless, who stared forlornly at the ground, and, remembering what Stoick had done to cure his own hiccups, yelled "Toothless! Red Death!" Toothless sprang to his feet, then tumbled over with shock. Hiccup laughed. Toothless glared at him. "At least you don't have hiccups anymore, right bud?" Toothless shot fire at Hiccup's feet angrily. "Aww, come on. Don't stay mad," he said.

"That was pretty convincing, you know. What Toothless must have thought... I half expected the red death to come crashing into this column and..." Astrid shuddered.

Hiccup glanced at his metal leg, then automatically rolled up his pant leg to stare at where his leg ended and the metal began. His skin was scarred heavily where it had been cauterized or sewn up. It was pink in most places, smooth white in others. Toothless, finally deciding to forgive him, made a concerned noise in the back of his throat. Hiccup self-consciously tucked his metal foot beneath him. "You couldn't have done anything, bud. You saved the rest of me, didn't you?" Hiccup slid his hand down Toothless' head and neck, resting it on his shoulder.

Astrid couldn't help but stare at his prosthetic. Of course she knew he had only one leg, and that he must have been scarred, but he had never shared this with her. He was so confident and able-bodied, most of the time it wasn't obvious he had ever lost a leg. "You never showed me," she said softly, putting her hand on his knee.

"Why would I?" he said, not bitterly, just matter-of-fact. Astrid didn't respond, she had no words to. She scooted closer and gently moved her hand to his mess of scars. Hiccup flinched. "Astrid," he said gently.

"Sorry," she said. She pulled her fingers away, and was surprised when Hiccup caught them.

"You know, I didn't show _anyone,_ after they healed. Not even my dad." Hiccup covered up the scars with his hand. "I still feel like I have a leg, sometimes. Like- there's an itch. I used to reach down and try to scratch it, but it was just... metal. It took a lot of getting used to."

"Hiccup," Astrid said softly. She caught his fingers with both of her calloused hands and leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. "You could have at least told me."

Hiccup looked away, trying to avoid meeting her in the eyes. Then he felt her hands tugging gently at his hair. "What are you... doing?" he said suspiciously.

"You have a braid," she said, tying it off. "And if you ever feel lonely, that's a piece of me with you."

Hiccup bit his lip, feeling the lump of hair. She pecked him on the cheek, then began to gather her things back into the basket. "I am so lucky to have you," Hiccup said.

"I know," Astrid said cheekily. "Don't expect me to get that sappy again anytime soon." She packed her basket onto Stormfly and tossed Hiccup his exploding sword. He caught it awkwardly and took out its cartridge, to avoid any unpleasant surprises. He drew his feet out from under him and stood.

"So... Gothi _did _give you a clean bill of health, right?" Hiccup asked. He pocketed the sword, hoping it was no longer any danger. It clicked against the other cartridges in his pocket.

"Of course she did!" she scowled teasingly at Hiccup. "She said- well, 'said' that as long as I don't overdo it, I won't even have a scar."

"No axe throwing for you," Hiccup said, pecking her on the cheek as he moved to get on Toothless.

The couple and their dragons lifted off the long stone column of rock and began to circle around back to Berk. They stayed up longer than usual, enjoying the light mist, sprays of clouds and the sun reflecting off the ocean. Toothless and Stormfly flew wing to wing, barely flapping, using the air currents to stay aloft.

"We should probably get back," Hiccup said reluctantly. "I want to see what Rain has been up to."

"Yeah," Astrid agree, her outstretched hand passing through clouds. She put her hand back on Stormfly's neck. "Down, girl!" Stormfly went into a dive, followed by Toothless. Hiccup whooped, then clutched at Toothless for dear life. He saw Stormfly open her wings.

The speed that Toothless was going at was dizzying, and they came closer and closer to the water and just as he thought they were going to plunge into the ocean, Toothless spread open his wings. When he turned, his wingtips skimmed the water. Stormfly joined them. "That was so awesome!" Hiccup said, cheering.

Astrid gaped at him. They flew in silence for a bit, heading towards the island. Then Astrid chose to break it. "Rain has been helping to spread the words about our feeding stations and soon-to-be stables," she told him. "And she's getting the dragons to help out around Berk."

"Since when?" Hiccup said.

"Well, you were a little out of it today," Astrid said. "You missed half of the day. And because of all the dragons that have came around, they've also decided to try out your old fire extinguisher idea. They saw how well the-" Astrid snickered. "Gas-inator worked."

"Would you stop! Gobber came up with that name, not me!" Hiccup complained. Toothless swooped over the town and came to land by a feeding station. Hiccup was surprised by how many dragons were there. "We should make the feeding stations bigger," Hiccup said.

"Big changes," Astrid said. "We know. They're focusing on the feeding areas where there are the most dragons, for now."

"This-" Hiccup gestured to the several dozen dragons of assorted sizes, "isn't the most dragons? What has Rain been _doing?_" Hiccup said, awed.

He felt someone tap him on the shoulder. "Rain!" Hiccup greeted her. "Good job. How's your own dragon?" The Nadder crept up from behind her, crawling up to rest on her shoulder. It was growing fast with all the good food, and it was almost falling off of her shoulder. Rain beamed.

Hiccup stiffened as he heard a familiar voice behind him. "Hiccup," Stoick said. "We should talk."

"Ummm," Hiccup said, glancing nervously at Astrid. She gave him a reassuring smile, and he followed his father to a place out of earshot of them.

"Son," he began, then stopped. "Oh, don't look at me like that! I only wanted to ask you to hold some fire drills, so everyone would know what to do."

"I can do that, no problem," Hiccup said, relieved. Stoick looked at him quite seriously. "Oh, no. You want real fire, don't you?"

**When I think of Astrid, I think of a strong girl who knows what to say to make Hiccup feel comfortable. She guards herself as much as she can because she doesn't want to be thought of as weak, but some of her shell comes off when she's around Hiccup. That all sort of came out in the scene with Hiccup's prosthetic. I always try to stay in character as much as I can. My little trick is imagining their dialogue and movement in my head, in their voices. If it fits, I deem it in character. If it doesn't- well, revision time!**

**Sorry for the rambling. I love these characters so much! 3**


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